My Little Gymnast

Little T just turned 4 when she started school. I knew it was going to be a bit of a struggle with her, although she was definitely ready for it, we knew that the first couple of weeks would be a bit difficult. But she survived, or more like, we all survived! In less than two weeks, she was totally fine. We still do get our odd days of course, but hey, even as grown-ups we have those days too right? But she’s doing really great now and absolutely loves school and her teacher and friends. What a relief!

After-school activities:

And then there’s the after-school activities, which I wasn’t so keen at first, because at this age, isn’t school enough? And she’s always had her swimming lessons every Wednesday even before she started school. I thought that was enough. When she’s a bit older, then she can have whatever after school activities she wants like music lessons or sports.

The thing with T is that she’s always been interested in gymnastics. I guess in a way all little children are, you know they all like bouncy castles, jumping and hanging upside down like little monkeys at the playground. So when most of her school mates started going to after school activities, I thought why not look for a gymnastics class for her, because she’s really into it? I didn’t want to send T to an after-school activity she wasn’t interested in, just because everyone else was doing it. It had to be something she really liked.

Thankfully, we did find one for her age-group, although it is about a 30-45 minute drive from where we live. It’s so much worth it!

She loved the first class. I was half expecting her to hesitate when she first tried out, but she didn’t. She just went along with the other girls, all older and taller than her. As usual, she’s the youngest and smallest in the whole gymnastics club! And it’s also a proper one, you know the kind that’s a member of the British gymnastics association, that sort. A “proper job” as the Cornish would say 🙂

After the first lesson, we wanted to buy her the club’s leopard right away. But they told us to wait for at least two weeks before buying it, just to make sure that she won’t change her mind. When we found out how much it cost, we agreed. Let’s just say it wasn’t cheap.

Now it’s been more than two weeks since her first try and here she is, still loving it:

She loves what she calls her gymnastics-outfit! When we first bought it, she refused to take it off and actually wanted to sleep in it. Later on, she agreed to just sleep WITH it, tucked in her bed with her. Not only that, she brought it on holiday with us. It was a bit of a struggle to convince her not to wear it during our holiday.

And as you know, with little T, she always has to have a funny-face whenever the camera is pointed at her.

This is definitely one of our proudest moments. Since starting school and gym class, our little girl has been more confident as ever. Still a little bit shy at first, but once she’s comfortable enough, she’ll even go up to you and introduce herself. What’s not there to be proud of? I’m sure all parents are the same 😉

Oh man, my eyes teared up at the end – I can’t believe how she is growing! Not only did she conquer school, but she’s been rocking the gymnastics! That’s so awesome! and it cracked me up about the suit – taking it on holiday, and sleeping with it, that’s got to be a pain while being just adorable at the same time!

“Accept the children the way we accept trees—with gratitude, because they are a blessing—but do not have expectations or desires. You don’t expect trees to change, you love them as they are.” - Isabelle Allende